That which you need , you already have

Let me tell you a small story first…

Once upon a time, when technology was not so advanced as it is now, lived a woodcutter in a corner of a dense forest. One day, he had to cross the forest and reach a place on the other side of the forest by the next morning for an important meeting. So, he started early in the morning and planned to reach his place before sunset. He thought that he’ll have a good rest by the night and make himself available for the appointment next morning. But due to bad weather, he could travel only half the distance and could reach only the middle of the forest at sunset. Darkness was enveloping the dense forest swiftly and he became anxious. He had no option to keep travelling throughout the night if he had any chance of reaching the other end by morning, but how can he? He didn’t even bring a lamp with him and it was getting darker and darker. He was looking around desperately and suddenly, in the middle of darkness, he faintly saw something like a hut hidden behind the trees. Hoping for help he made his way towards the hut. It happened to be a hermitage and there was a sage, a holy man sitting inside the hut and meditating. Our man was excited! He had heard others say that sages are kind souls. He had also heard that sages are very powerful, that they can perform all kinds of miracles, so he thought he can beg the sage to perform some miracle and help him cross the forest by morning. He went to the sage, saluted him and asked him if he can grant him a favour. The kind sage asked him what’s the matter. Our man explained the whole situation and requested the sage to light up his path so that he can cross the forest by morning without any difficulty. The sage gave him a small hand lamp and told him that it will help him get across. Now, this is not what our man expected! He thought that the sage will use his magic powers and spectacularly light up the whole forest and he’ll joyously walk across the forest before dawn. He revealed his disappointment to the sage and asked why only a small hand lamp. The sage laughed and said him, “Dear, even if I use my powers and light up your whole path, It’s not much of use to you. Yes, the lamp I gave you will help you see only 10 meters ahead of you, but that is all you need. As you cover up those 10 meters, the next 10 meters will unfold before you. That way, you will cross the forest by morning without any difficulty”.

Our lives are pretty much like that. I always believe that at any point in a person’s life, God (or nature as you may call it) gives exactly what he/she needs so that he/she can inch closer and closer to the ultimate destination. At this point in your life you are in the exact place you should be, you have got exactly what you need, the exact amount of resources that will help you evolve, nothing more, nothing less. But most of us, instead of looking at things we have, always think about things we don’t have. Instead of using the resources at hand in the best possible way and moving ahead, we always think about what could be and what could have been. We don’t do smaller things right, and expect much bigger things to happen in our lives.

And then, there is this tendency to feel anxious about what will happen to us in the future. We are so busy thinking about and planning for the unknown future 10, 20, 60 years ahead that we forget about the present and things that are right before us that needs our immediate attention. Yes, it’s necessary to have a vision, a goal, a sense of direction. But we can get to the top of the mountain only by climbing step by step, focusing our attention on the step immediately ahead of us, that’s the sure and steady way to get to the top. Instead, in the middle of the path, if we walk with our eyes fixed on the mountain top and our mind thinking whether or not we’ll reach there, we are sure to stumble and fall down only to start again from the basement of the mountain. We tend to look for assurance from God that we’ll be secure for the rest of our life. But this assurance is of little use to us. All we can see is the day ahead. When we can use the tools and resources given to us and spend the day in the most efficient manner, the next day will unfold. As we go on this way, day after day, we’d have gone a long way when we finally leave this human body.

As Swami Vivekananda says,

By doing well the duty which is nearest to us, the duty which is in our hands now, we make ourselves stronger and improving our strength in this manner step by step, we may even reach a state in which it shall be our privilege to do the most coveted and honoured duties in life and in society.

Posted in: Wings of fire